‘Save Wimbledon Park’ – Locals fight against expansion

Wimbledon’s All England Club was granted planning permission for expansion at a hearing on Friday, despite the protests of local campaigners Save Wimbledon Park.

Wimbledon residents braved the rain at City Hall on 27^th September to show their defiance against the proposed major expansion, which will require eight years of work on 39 new tennis courts built over the site of the Wimbledon Park Golf Club.

Deputy London Mayor Jules Pipe accepted the plans for the biggest Wimbledon Championships expansion in generations – but for the local residents, the battle goes on.

Save Wimbledon Park protest group was formed in 2021 following submission by All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) of the original plans for expansion.

Three years and 20,400 SWP petition signatures against the plans have passed since then.

Jonathan Morrish, formerly a music industry executive at Sony and now PR Advisor of the SWP, said: “We’re obviously disappointed, but we will continue to fight on. It’s really as simple as that.

“[The protest campaign] has brought people together; we still feel we were ignored by AELTC, who wouldn’t take a meeting with us or with any MPs, so for them to say that they have consulted with the community is ridiculous.”

An AELTC spokesperson stated when contacted for response that they have spoken personally with residents and with multiple MPs, including those of Wimbledon and Putney.

They continued: “Over the past three years we have spoken to more than 8,000 people at various consultation events.”

When Merton Council sold Wimbledon Park Golf Club to AELTC in 1993, both parties signed a covenant promising to keep the park as open space and never to build on it.

AELTC proposed arguments at Friday’s hearing that there are “special circumstances” in which to overrule this promise in the public interest.

Local resident and SWP supporter Keith Walton, 69, said: “I think Wimbledon works very well at the moment, one of the things that Wimbledon is famous for is the fact that it is slightly smaller scale, it’s very charming.

“It would be a very sad day [if the expansion goes ahead], do we not value our green spaces? Do we not value Metropolitan Open Land? This park has been there for a few hundred years.

“I think there’s the whole legal covenant to be brought into question. So, the campaign will continue, I am sure of that.”

Residents say an expansion of such scale would greatly impact lives, changing the landscape of Wimbledon permanently.

Linda Murgatroyd, who has lived near Wimbledon Park since 1956, said that she may decide to move away from Wimbledon if the expansion work goes ahead.

She added: “If this goes ahead there are not going to be any green spaces in London that are safe.”

On a sporting level the expansion aims to strengthen Wimbledon’s claim to being one of the biggest sporting tournaments both in the UK and globally, said AELTC at the hearing.

Tennis reporter and commentator Bob Ballard said: “I think it’s necessary – because for Wimbledon to be the preeminent tennis tournament in the world, it needs to expand.”

Ballard spoke of comparisons with the US, Australian and French Opens and recent work they have done to expand and modernise, stating that Wimbledon must make every effort not to “lag behind”.

He continued: “We can’t sit back and take things for granted. Yes, we are Wimbledon, but we are one of four Grand Slam events. Do we think we’re the most prestigious? We need to prove that.

“New York wants to be there. Melbourne wants to be there. Paris wants to be there.”

The proposed expansion could also have an impact on businesses local to the Wimbledon Village area.

Isaac Wood, Bar Manager at independent cocktail bar Hemingways, said: “Wimbledon is obviously a busy time for the whole village, we’re usually pretty wall to wall with people during that time anyway.

“But I’m hoping [the expansion] doesn’t impact local residents negatively because they are our main customers throughout the whole rest of the year.”

He added that he hopes the expansion could increase the profile of Wimbledon all year round, a sentiment with which Ballard agreed.

The decision to grant planning permission is subject to the conclusion of a Section 106 legal agreement, said the Mayor’s press office in a statement.